Trump imposed sanctions against the Northern Stream - 2. Because of this, the contractor stopped the construction of the gas pipeline

US President Donald Trump signed the country's new defense budget. It implies sanctions against the Northern Stream - 2 . The document approved by the Senate December 17 contains a special section providing for measures “to contain aggression” by Russia. Among these measures is the ban on any companies under the threat of blocking American assets to participate in the implementation of the Northern Stream -2 and Turkish Stream projects. In addition, measures provide for military assistance to Ukraine for $ 300 million and a ban on the sale of Turkey F-35 fighters due to the fact that Ankara bought S-400 from Moscow. Sanctions, as the US Treasury specified, come into force immediately.

The gasket for the gas pipeline is stopped . The Gazprom Contractor, the Swiss company Allseas a few hours before signing the budget Trump announced that she temporarily stops working on laying pipes. Allseas said that they expect normative, technical and environmental clarifications from the American authorities, after which a decision will be made on further actions. On December 18, senators Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson sent an Allseas letter in which the companies were threatened with “potentially fatal legal and economic sanctions” if it continues to work “at least one day” after signing the defense budget Trump.

In Europe, sanctions were criticized . The European Commission said that the EU "is fundamentally opposed to imposing sanctions against the European Union companies leading the legal business." The Government of Germany, the country where the end point of the Nord Stream - 2 will be located, expressed regret for "extra -territorial sanctions" and called them interference in intra -European affairs. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said that on the evening of December 21, consultations about new restrictions will be held between the US Ministry of Finance and Europeans. “The sanctions are not formulated clearly enough. They do not understand, Europeans, first of all, what it means, ” said Kozak.

Now the Nord Stream 2 is built by 92% . To complete the work on the bottom of the Baltic Sea, it is necessary to lay about 100 kilometers of pipes. Experts surveyed by RBC agreed that the new US sanctions would lead to the fact that the construction will end a few months later. Contractors who refuse to work will be able to replace Russian or Chinese companies that are not afraid of sanctions. The construction operator, the Swiss company Nord Stream 2 AG has already stated that it would try to complete the work “as soon as possible”.

Grigory Levchenko